Our Camping Adventures - Part 1

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Now that I have the new blog all set up, I can finally tell you all about our camping experience! We left for our church’s family camp on Friday after my husband got off work. Amazingly, nobody got carsick on the way to the coast. The only way to the coast from our house is a VERY windy road, and we seem to battle car-sickness every year. This year I got smart and loaded us up on Dramamine. My poor husband had to drive, while the rest of us were happily snoring away.

We arrived at the coast and stopped at KFC for dinner. Not very campy, but we didn’t want to be setting up camp after dark. After getting our fill of chicken strips and mashed potatoes, we headed to Fred Meyer to buy some 3 hour fireplace logs. Did I mention that we’re not very good at camping? We’ve learned in past years that making fires is just as hard as it looks on Survivor. We’ve gotten smart and just buy the fireplace logs now. They burn for 3 hours, and they’re easy to light.

We arrived at camp around 6:30. Fortunately for us, some friends took pity on the fact that we were going to get a late start getting up there, and they had our tent set up for us by the time we arrived. We quickly unpacked, blew up the air mattresses, and got everything else in order. I threatened kindly asked the kids not to jump on the mattresses. Two minutes later I heard them jumping on the mattresses. Hopefully I’m not the only mom who has kids who don’t listen.

At 8:00 we were supposed to gather at base camp (basically a big dirt area in the camping loop) for worship and s’mores. Being as my husband is the worship leader, we got ourselves down there on time. Unfortunately the s’mores didn’t get there on time. Turns out the church van had some tire problems and also got a late start. Not to worry, the pastor assured us. The s’mores were on the way.

After a great time of worship and a brief talk about the weekend’s activities, the church van pulled up with the s’mores just as everyone was getting ready to head back to their own campsites. My kids were thrilled, and we gathered ’round the campfire (not our fire…this was a real campfire) to roast some marshmallows. We put together our s’mores (I used a peanut butter cup rather than Hershey’s chocolate…have you ever tried that? Yum!), and had a tasty little snack before the kids begged to go to sleep. Why is it that my kids beg to go to sleep at camp, but I can’t get them in bed on time for the life of me at home? Perhaps I should put tents in their room.

Anyway, back to the story. We washed up the kids and got them tucked in their sleeping bags. After yelling at them kindly reminding them a few times to stop jumping on the mattresses, they fell asleep. Shannon and I spent a precious hour just talking beside our fireplace log campfire. Then we turned in ourselves.

After getting settled in the sleeping bag, I noticed Liz was sighing…loudly. I quietly asked her what was wrong. She replied that her tummy didn’t feel good. Hmmmm. Perhaps the s’mores weren’t such a great idea. She begged to sleep with me. Against my better judgment I consented.

About an hour later, I had to get up to use the restroom. Two pregnancies destroyed my bladder, apparently. When I got back from the bathroom, Liz had rolled over, and I had no place to sleep. No problem, I thought. I’ll just sleep in her sleeping bag next to Sam on the other air mattress.

As I got into her sleeping bag, I realized that all the jumping had taken it’s toll on the air mattress. There was no air in the mattress. It was going to be a long night…

Stay tuned for Our Camping Adventures - Part 2.

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